Best Invention Since The Vibrator
Written: Mar 29 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: E-mail always at your fingertips
Cons: Allows multiple accounts, but no privacy
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| ShiralsSD's Full Review: Earthlink Cidco MailStation |
I have a new toy. This toy is the greatest invention since the cordless vibrator. It's called the MailStation. It's made by a company called Cidco. I've never heard of them till now and I have no idea if they make any other products and I really don't care. This is one great product. What is it you ask? I guess the best thing to call it is an e-mail gadget, because essentially, that's what it is.
It's a portable device which you can use anywhere to read and send e-mail. It looks like a small laptop and weighs about 2 pounds. The pop-up LCD screen is about 2 1/2 inches high by 6 inches wide. You can adjust the text to make it small or large and it's surprisingly easy to read. The miniature keyboard is fun to type on but I would imagine large fingers might have a hard time with it. It has a fully functioning address book. It runs on 3 AA batteries (it actually comes with them!) and also comes with an AC adapter.
Here's how it works. First you buy it :) It costs $130 plus tax and is available at stores such as Staples, where I bought mine. When you get it home, you call a toll free # to set up your e-mail account. Have your credit card handy. The e-mail service costs $9.95 a month. If you purchase a one year contract in advance, they charge $100 (2 months of free service) PLUS they give you a $30 rebate on the MailStation, so it's a really good idea to go for the contract and save $50.
While on the phone with a rep, they tell you how to program your machine with a local access number and you tell them what user name you want. Then your address becomes "username"@mymailstation.com. In other words, my address is MAABAAD@mymailstation.com. If you want other family members to have an e-mail account, they charge $3 a month for each additional account and you can have up to 5 accounts.
The instruction booklet is very explicit and thorough. If you still have questions after reading it, tech support is a phone call or e-mail away. The toll free # is even posted on the back of the machine. The few times I called them, hold time was less than 5 minutes and the reps seemed to be every knowledgeable about the product.
You're now ready to use your MailStation. It's very easy to learn all the functions. The only time you need to hook it up to a phone jack (wire is provided) is when you are actually sending and receiving e-mail. You can write and read your mail without being hooked up to a phone line.
The MailStation comes in handy in many instances. It's great if you want to take it on a vacation with you to keep up with your e-mail. It comes with a book of access #s for all over the country. I recently took mine on a vacation and it was easy to change the # and to hook it up to the phone jack at my hotel. The hotel I was in charges $1 for each local call, so rather then send 1 piece of e-mail at a time, the MailStation allows you to write as many letters as you want, save them, and then send them all at once. That's a neat function because it only cost me $1 to send a bunch of e-mails.
The main reason I bought this was so that I could write and read my mail while my daughter is using the "real" computer. I no longer have to say to her, "Let me just check my mail." Also, I take it to work with me every day so I can catch up on my e-mail when I have free time.
You know how sometimes you get a brainstorm for a great epinion but you're nowhere near a computer? Have you ever grabbed a pen and paper and written one by hand like I have? Well, if you have the MailStation with you, you can write an epinion at any time from anywhere, e-mail it to your main computer, and later copy and paste it into epinions.
It also makes a great and fairly inexpensive gift for people who don't have a computer, yet want to get into the e-mail groove. How about Grandma and Grandpa? Imagine the thrill when the grandkids send them e-mail!
The MailStation cannot handle e-mail attachments, but they have it set up so that you can go to a website and download them. Last but not least, you can even hook this baby up to a printer if you want to print any of your mail!
So far, I have only come across one flaw: If you want to share your MailStation with someone, there is absolutely no privacy. Even if they have their own account, they have access to your mail and you have access to theirs. For some reason, the machine was designed so that mail can be accessed without using a password. That sucks. I don't know about you, but I don't like anyone else reading my personal e-mail, so because of that, I canceled my daughter's account.
I also think, being that's it's portable, that it should have come with a custom carrying case. I had to go and buy a small shoulder bag for carrying the machine, the jack, extra batteries, and the phone wire.
Do I recommend the MailStation? Without a doubt!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ShiralsSD
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Member: Sheri Huttner
Location: Bed
Reviews written: 173
Trusted by: 166 members
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